Product Description

The First World War, with its mud and the slaughter of the trenches, is often taken as the ultimate example of the futility of war. Generals, safe in their headquarters behind the lines, sent millions of men to their deaths to gain a few hundred yards of ground. Writers, notably Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, provided unforgettable images of the idiocy and tragedy of the war. Yet this vision of the war is at best a partial one, the war only achieving its status as the worst of wars in the last thirty years. At the time, the war aroused emotions of pride and patriotism. Not everyone involved remembered the war only for its miseries. The generals were often highly professional and indeed won the war in 1918. In this original and challenging book, Dan Todman shows views of the war have changed over the last ninety years and how a distorted image of it emerged and became dominant.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49143 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 299 pages

About the Author
Dan Todman has taught at Sandhurst; he now teaches at Queen Mary, University of London.

Customer Reviews

A challenge to what we thought we knew about the Great War
This book is not really about the Great War as such, although the author is authoritative on that subject when necessary. Rather, it is about the way the war has been remembered, and the way myths have been created which most people do not realise are myths. Todman takes us through the books and poems, the films and songs, the images, the memorials and the Armistice Day services, and discusses the impressions they have left us. There is a lot of comment on British social history and attitudes throughout the last century - much of it astute and wryly humourous. I was fascinated by the comments on the things that have influenced me - (I was born in 1946) - books by AJP Taylor and Alan Clark, 'Oh What A Lovely War', the BBC's 'Great War', Wilfred Owen, 'Birdsong', 'Blackadder Goes Forth', visiting the war cemeteries. With all of these, Todman enlightens us on how and why these images and versions of the war were produced, and what effect they had. There is a wealth of interesting detail and anecdote.
As a schoolteacher, I was particularly interested in the discussion of the way the teaching of the war poets in countless English lessons (by people who are not trained historians) has helped produce a set of assumptions about the war which are at least debatable. The whole book is a really useful commentary on how all history is created.
Reading the book, I have been constantly and delightedly reminded of things in my own cultural background whose significance I had never really considered. So, I found it stimulating and challenging.
My only complaints are that there are more typos than one would have expected, and that the author's knowledge of the titles of pop records in 1968 is not secure, if my memory serves me right. Maybe I am wrong, but I was there. In other respects, Todman has made me much more aware of where I have been and of the influences on me. It is a very good book.

Wide-ranging and knowledgeable
Dan Todman's book provides a further insight into the social and cultural history of the Great War to offset the 'futile slaughter' view still held by so many people. He is particularly good on tracing the development of deeply held myths and covers a wide range of topics. My only reservation about a fine analysis is that to my mind he plays down the key importance of the 1960s in shaping these myths. It is true that not all came to prominence in the 60s but the continuing misrepresentation of the Great War is highly dependent upon those whose ideas were shaped in that decade.

A balanced account
If you grew up having to recite Great War poetry in school, whilst being expected to empathise with Owen and Sassoon and their 'true' representation of war in the trenches; or if you believe (but don't really know why) that Haig was donkey-in-chief of the British army and that the war was futile, then this book will tell you why.
It is an excellent account of how popular understanding of the war developed from the stunned numbness in the face of catastrophic loss, well reflected in the poetry, that people felt at the time, to the modern ingrained assumption of a 'futile' or 'unnecessary' war.
It is easy to read, well referenced, historically accurate and well balanced. Which is to say the author does not attempt to completely debunk the 'myths' (often the aim of revision) but exposes what underpins them, leaving the reader with a more sympathetic view of the motives and actions of those who participated in the Great War.